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Updated: May 19, 2025
"Do the Phoenicians pray also?" thought the prince. "Unable to render any service," continued Dagon, "I will give good counsel at least. There is here in Pi-Bast a renowned Syrian, Prince Hiram, an old man, wise and tremendously wealthy. Summon him, Erpatr, ask of him a hundred talents; perhaps he will be able to gratify thee."
He told them that Lykon, the Greek with a face resembling his, was prowling around among the palaces, and he gave command to seize him. Hiram swore that if Phoenicians helped the police the Greek would be taken. But the chief shook his head. "Dost doubt?" asked the prince. "Yes, lord. In Pi-Bast dwell many pious Asiatics who think the priestess worthy of death because she deserted the altar.
There was no day without spectacles, feasts, and triumphal festivals; there was no night without illuminations and uproar. Not only in Pi-Bast but in every city it had become the fashion to run through the streets with torches, music, and, above all, with full pitchers.
Those present murmured in fear. "All this we have seen in Pi-Bast. Mentezufis and I were witnesses of drinking feasts, at which the half-demented heir blasphemed against the gods and insulted the priesthood." "That is true," said Mentezufis.
Pi-Bast seemed from edge to edge to be one hall filled with music, singing, laughter, and the sound of goblets. The prince and the Phoenician went speedily to the suburbs, choosing the less lighted sides of the streets. Still, people feasting on terraces saw them at intervals, and invited them up, or cast flowers down on their heads. "Hei, ye strollers!" cried they, from the roofs.
"My name is Sem; I am high priest of the temple of Ptah in Pi-Bast." "Thou wilt be my substitute in religious ceremonies," said the pharaoh, pointing toward him with his finger. A murmur of astonishment ran through the assembly. After long meditation and counsels it would have been difficult to select a more worthy priest for that high office.
"Since Thou hast left Pi-Bast wondrous changes have taken place there. Thy Phoenician woman, Kama, has fled with Lykon." "With Lykon?" repeated the prince. "Move not, Erpatr, and show not to thousands that Thou feelest sorrow in the day of thy triumph."
It was possible not only to recognize every such company from afar, but to catch its odor, since those people always brought immense bouquets of fresh flowers in their hands, and in bundles all the male cats that had died in the course of the current year. The devotees gave these cats to dissectors in Pi-Bast to be stuffed or embalmed, and bore them home later on as valued relics.
"No, for I have never seen two men so much alike that one could be mistaken for the other. Still more, I have never heard that there exists in Pi-Bast a man who could counterfeit our viceroy, may he live through eternity!" "That man," said the chief, "was in Pi-Bast, at the temple of Astaroth. The Tyrian Prince Hiram knew him, and our viceroy has seen him with his own eyes.
The prince laughed, but he had not patience to listen to the complaints of the ex-priestess. "Be at rest," said he, when going, "and wonder not if after some days men bring in thy Lykon bound like a jackal. That insolent ruffian has worn out my patience." On returning to his palace the prince summoned Hiram and the chief of police in Pi-Bast.
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